EDL Leader Speaks to LoveGB About Viral Photo

English Defence League leader Ian Crossland and the truth behind that photo

Friday 14 April 2017

Many of you will’ve seen that picture. The one that has been splashed over every newspaper for the past week accompanied by the fawning headlines; the brave Brummie standing in defiance against ‘racist’ EDL ‘thugs’; the courageous Asian woman defending the blue hijab-wearing Muslim lady as she was surrounded by fascists – I could go on but you get the picture.

As is often the case with this type of situation though, the mainstream media are painting a false, agenda-driven narrative. And they are only telling one side of the story, that of the supposed “brave” woman who apparently “just happened to be walking by” when “she saw a Muslim woman in a hijab being surrounded by a group of EDL thugs” – Saffiyah Khan.

LoveGB though have been lucky enough to get in contact with the other person in that photo: patriot and English Defence League leader Ian Crossland. Speaking passionately to us last night, Ian told a very different tale from the one being spun by the MSM.

Speaking of the moments leading up to the infamous photo being taken, Ian explained:

“As part of the demonstration we held a minute’s silence as a mark of remembrance and respect for the victims of the cowardly terror attacks in Stockholm and Westminster in the weeks previous.

“During this minute’s silence the left wing activists to the rear of the demo area saw fit to disrupt the demonstration.

“As you would expect, the members of the EDL who heard this disruption took exception to this and challenged the anti-fascist demonstrators.

“I was on stage at this time alongside fellow campaigner Bill Wier, who was announcing the commencement of the minute’s silence. Both Bill and myself tried over the PA system to encourage our members to ignore the disturbance and return to finish the mark of respect.

“After trying in vain for a number of minutes to call the members back, I had no choice other than to go to the disturbance and try to split the 2 factions.”

Khan and her crazed Antifa accomplice, whom screamed abuse in Ian’s face from just inches away

It was then that Ian was confronted by the deranged Khan. He went on to explain how she then launched into a crazed torrent of abuse:

“As soon as I got there I was confronted by the activist group, which included Saffiya Khan. She stormed up to me, screaming abuse. Her accomplice was just inches from me, screaming foul mouthed obscenities. Another even tried to spit in my face.

“Whilst trying to get our members away, the police also tried to remove the anti-fascist protesters, whom kept returning to show their utter contempt for the innocent victims of the recent Islamic terror attacks, as they continued disrupting the minute’s silence.”

Khan approaches an unaware Ian from behind. The woman in the blue hijab is clearly in the background and not surrounded by any EDL members

It was then that the photo of Ian and the smirking Khan was taken.

“The smile you see in that photo is no more than her smugly gloating that she had managed to disrupt the demonstration just as they had intended.” Ian explained, “The fact that they chose the minute’s silence to disrupt our demo has been completely ignored by the mainstream media.”

When asked why he thought that was, Ian was philosophical:

“I have been approached by many media outlets for interviews since Saturday, but as more and more videos and pictures have emerged showing the facts of the events, they have all since declined to follow through with the interviews choosing to continue the lies already put out.

“I am still open to giving our side of the story to the mainstream media but this will prove the narrative they have created around the event to be false. Never the ones to let the truth get in the way of a good story, they choose instead to continue the lies.”

Ian then went on to give an insight into the real Saffiyah Khan.

“During an interview on the Victoria Derbyshire show Khan claimed to have been there as a local with no political aligance, which has since been proven to be a lie.

“It has come to light that she is an active member of antifa, she has been responsible for arranging numerous anti-fascist demos including counter demos against pegida in Birmingham and many others.

“She is also a reporter for the news site of far left antifa group Hope Not Hate – a detail given to me by a reporter from the daily mail.”

I was astounded by this revelation – Hope Not Hate are a group of left wing extremists who, in the words of their own PR man, use “every dirty, underhand, lowdown, unscrupulous trick and in the book” to smear their opponents. It would seem quite apt in Ian’s case. A quick Google search on my phone appeared to confirm Ian’s assertions about Khan:

Ian then advanced more evidence to back up his side of the story:

“The proof is there for all to see – neither me nor any member of the EDL threatened the woman in the blue hijab that Khan claimed to be defending. Moreover she was there as an activist with the intention of disrupting the demo, along with Khan and the rest of their cronies.

“Videos of the event are widely available on YouTube and many other locations. The Ruply TV YouTube channel, the Daily Mail and many other mainstream media sites have videos showing who was shouting through the minute’s silence. There are also photos of her approaching me to confront me, contrary to her claims, that I targeted her.”

After I finished speaking to Ian I watched the Ruply TV video of the demo and it did indeed chime with his version of events. Watch for yourself and make your own mind up:

Ian finished by saying:

“They are a disgrace and showed a huge lack of respect by chosing to disrupt the minute’s silence for the terror victims.

“Khan has been proven a liar and the media have continued to perpetuate the lies and create a fake hero and poster girl.”

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